I. Introduction Some time ago, one of APP’s readers asked how real philosophy as we define and practice it (two activities that are inextricably connected) is supposed to be different from other types of philosophy, and whether all philosophy that is not real philosophy should be regarded as “fake” or “inauthentic” philosophy.[i] To a certain … [continue reading]

The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well? (H.D. Thoreau, Walden I, “Economy”) With Apologies to Philip Larkin, and Malice toward Some. … [continue reading]

The Guardian (13 October 2016)  In a widely-discussed recent essay for the New Atlantis, the policy scholar Daniel Sarewitz argues that science is in deep trouble. While modern research remains wondrously productive, its results are more ambiguous, contestable and dubious than ever before. This problem isn’t caused by a lack of funding or of scientific … [continue reading]

1. Introduction, by Z Samuel Alexander (1859-1938) was an Australian-born British philosopher, and the first Jewish fellow of a college at Cambridge or Oxford–in his case, Lincoln College, Oxford. Later he held a professorial Chair of philosophy at the “red brick,” politically socialist, or at least left-leaning, religiously tolerant University of Manchester. I don’t know … [continue reading]

APP Editors’ Note: Ron de Weijze and Andreas Keller are independent philosophers living and working in Europe. YP is a young philosopher working on her BA somewhere in North America or Europe. RTP is a recently tenured associate professor of philosophy teaching at a public university somewhere in North America. And AG is an independent … [continue reading]

APP Editors’ Note: The following is an excerpt from Socrates Tenured: The Institutions of 21st Century Philosophy–APP_socrates_tenured_poster_aug16 Universally venerated by contemporary philosophers, the actual philosophic practice of Socrates is rejected or ignored. Socrates could never get a position today in a philosophy (or any other) department. Socrates Tenured offers an account, and a critique, of … [continue reading]

For the philosopher is confronted not by one complex many-dimensional picture, the unity of which, such as it is, he must come to appreciate; but by two pictures of essentially the same order of complexity, each of which purports to be a complete picture of man-in-the-world, and which, after separate scrutiny, he must fuse into … [continue reading]

© 2016 Susan Haack. All rights reserved.1 the spirit … is the most essential thing—the motive…—C. S.Peirce2 At dinner the night before I was to give a talk in her department, a young professor solemnly told me that there’s no place for humor in serious philosophy. Since the paper on the relation of science and … [continue reading]

APP Editors’ Note: YP is a young philosopher currently working on her BA somewhere in North America or Europe. YP:  I recently found your website. I was intrigued. And relieved that such a community exists. I’m an aspiring philosopher (age 21) and I’m working through the XYZ program in philosophy. Since middle school I’ve been … [continue reading]